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The president, elected to a 4-year term, has limited powers. The prime minister and cabinet exercise most executive functions. The parliament is composed of 63 members, elected every 4 years unless it is dissolved sooner. Suffrage for presidential and parliamentary elections is universal for those 18 and older, and members of the parliament are elected...
Marine products account for the majority of Iceland's exports of goods. Other important exports include aluminum, ferro-silicon alloys, equipment and electronic machinery for fishing and fish processing and pharmaceuticals. Information technology and life sciences and related services are important growth areas. The vast majority of Iceland rsquo;s...
Icelanders are proof that a rich cultural life can be developed despite a small population. The country's literary heritage stems from writers of the 12th to 14th centuries who vividly recorded the sagas of Iceland's first 250 years. Other traditional arts include weaving, silver crafting, and wood carving. Poetry was the great literary form of expression...
Iceland was settled in the late 9th and early 10th centuries, principally by people of Norse origin. In 930 A.D., the ruling chiefs established a republican constitution and an assembly called the Althingi--the oldest parliament in the world. Iceland remained independent until 1262, when it entered into a treaty establishing a union with the Norwegian...
Iceland is a volcanic island in the North Atlantic Ocean east of Greenland and immediately south of the Arctic Circle. It lies about 4,200 kilometers (2,600 mi.) from New York and 830 kilometers (520 mi.) from Scotland. About 79% of Iceland's land area, which is of recent volcanic origin, consists of glaciers, lakes, a mountainous lava desert (highest...
Most Icelanders are descendants of Norwegian settlers and Celts from the British Isles, and the population is remarkably homogeneous. According to Icelandic Government statistics, 93% of the nation's inhabitants live in urban areas (localities with populations greater then 200) and about 60% live in Reykjavik metropolitan area. Of the Nordic languages,...
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